King’s Lynn move up Premiership standings with Birmingham win at Adrian Flux Arena

King's Lynn moved up to fifth in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership with a hard-fought 49-40 win over Birmingham at the Adrian Flux Arena.

The PSH Environmental Stars always just about had control of the meeting but took some time to put their opponents to bed, with former Lynn rider Tobiasz Musielak and his heat-leader colleague Matej Zagar reeling off a string of race wins for the visitors.

Manager Rob Lyon said: “It was a strange meeting because when you look through the scores it was a reasonably solid performance all the way through, which is what this team is built on.

“But we still made hard work of it. Birmingham to their credit took the meeting to us, rode well and did some damage, and they got four points from rider replacement – with (Michael) Jepsen Jensen in the team, we’d have been under the cosh a bit.

“But we’ve had our problems this year as everybody knows, so I’m quite happy to take that win. It’s another one on the board and now we move on to Thursday.

“Musielak and Zagar did the majority of the damage for them, and they are quality riders who have been around a long time, and we all know that riders seem to come back here and haunt us as Tobi did tonight.

“Luckily, though we had enough in the tank to get us over the line, and Bomber did Bomber things in Heats 14 and 15 to win the match for us.”

For the Stars it was their middle-order pairing of Nicolai Klindt and Chris Harris who shone as they combined for two 5-1s in the early stages of the meeting, and Harris went on to produce a party piece at the very end of proceedings.

The Brummies, in fact, won four of the first six races but they also lost Rising Star reserve Jason Edwards in an unfortunate Heat 2 incident when he came down at the start of the back straight after a clash with Jan Kvech.

The Lynn rider was disqualified by the referee but Edwards, a former King’s Lynn rider, was withdrawn with a dislocated shoulder.

Musielak, Jonas Jeppesen and Zagar twice took the flag for the visitors, but the Stars enjoyed big results in both Heats 3 and 5 to take charge of proceedings.

Skipper Klindt hit the front in Heat 3 with Harris switching back under Musielak coming off turn four to join him for a 5-1, and the same pairing recorded another maximum in Heat 5, this time from the start as they roared clear of Paco Castagna and Keynan Rew.

Zagar’s win in Heat 6 was supported by third place from Jeppesen for a Brummies 4-2, but Kvech produced a brilliant ride in Heat 7 to reel in Musielak and then fly around him at the end of lap three, with Niels-Kristian Iversen third as Lynn rebuilt their lead to seven points.

Guest Norick Blodorn took charge of Heat 8 for the Stars, but Birmingham weren’t finished as Musielak won Heat 9 on a tactical substitute and then held off the challenge of Richard Lawson in the next, as a pair of 4-2s made it 31-28 and all to ride for.

But any nerves in the Stars camp were eased somewhat when Iversen and Kvech left Zagar trailing in the early stages of Heat 11 for an important 5-1 to give the home side breathing space.

A 4-2 from Musielak and Jeppesen in Heat 12 narrowed the gap back to five, and Zagar then won Heat 13 too to ensure Lynn had to avoid slip-ups in the closing stages.

That was where Harris stepped up as he rounded Jeppesen into turn three of Heat 14 whilst Kvech supplied third place for a 4-2 which clinched victory on the night.

Harris wasn’t finished there, though, racing right to the end of Heat 15 where his chase of Musielak paid dividends with a brilliant pass off the final bend to win the race and send the Stars fans home happy.

The Stars now head into a vital away meeting on Thursday when they visit Oxford looking to add more points to their total.

King's Lynn 49: Chris Harris 11+1, Nicolai Klindt 10+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen 8, Jan Kvech 7+2, Richard Lawson 6+2, Norick Blodorn 5, Luke Harrison 2.

Birmingham 40: Tobiasz Musielak 17, Matej Zagar 11, Jonas Jeppesen 8+1, Paco Castagna 3, Keynan Rew 1, Jason Edwards 0, Michael Jepsen Jensen r/r.